Chainreactor- Insomnia review

Label:Pronoize

In 2009, the world was treated to an interesting club sound courtesy of Chainreactor titled X-tinction. Several live festival spots and opening gigs across Europe followed, and word started to spread about the dance floor filling hits creeping onto playlists worldwide. Recently released on Pronoize is the second album Insomniac, which continues the right where they left off. A case can be made that every track, because it is designed primarily for club play only and contains pure (if a bit repetitive) energy, make this an instant choice for DJ’s looking for new material to spin in their rotations this year. Tracks like “Locked In”, with its Powernoise beats and the thumping TBM smash “Pressure And Pain” secure Chainreactor an instant fanbase and should garner solid play and a long shelf life this year and perhaps for years to come.

Having said that, in my humble opinion there just wasn’t quite enough variety in either beat structure or BPM hooks to set this apart from similar bands. The album is above-average for this genre but didn’t have that extra oomph to make it a must-have for newer (and pickier) Electro fans. Die-hard club goers who live to stomp to more established acts like Soman and S.A.M will most certainly disagree and will flock to this album. As far as progress goes, Chainreactor have created a strong club album in Insomniac and I expect them to explode into an even bigger force live and in studio in the very near future.